Flexible self-charging lithium battery for storing low-frequency mechanical energy

Flexible self-charging power source, with admirable capability to harvest/store the energy generated by human motion, is considered as the most suitable power supply for next generation of wearable electronic devices. Herein, we demonstrated a flexible self-charging lithium battery for storing low-frequency tiny motion energy. The electrospinning polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoro ethylene (P(VDF-TrFE)) porous membranes was adopted as a piezoelectric separator and a supporting layer of the electrode to fabricate a novel flexible self-charging power cell (SCPC). The flexible SCPC could be effectively charged by directly collecting movement energy through mechanical deformation. The SCPC sealed in flexible case could be charged via periodic tapping (6 N, 1 Hz), indicating a storage capacity of 0.092 μA h in 330 s. Compared with traditional self-charging batteries, the flexible SCPC can work effectively at lower frequency and pressure, and collect the tiny motion energy of human body to power wearable electronic devices. This work may provide an innovative way to develop new self-charging wearable electronic devices.